Inez Ruin lives with her mother & grandmother in suburban California, but this novel isn't about that. It's about her relationship with her twice-divorced father, a man who takes his role as parent more seriously than any romantic relationship, and about the Ruin family - from half-brother Whitman, whom Inez only meets partway through childhood, to eccentric grandmother who is bound and determined to teach her about the proper things in life - like how to serve tea and how to belong to the country club. Set in 1970's California.
“The Ruins of California isn’t for everyone, but I don’t want to know the people it isn’t for. It is for people with broken homes and smashed hearts and extraordinary bravery and gallantry and imagination. This novel is for those who love their families with a terrible love and prize filial piety above all things. Yes, it’s about self-destruction, but it’s really about love – the real thing – about how we get it and how we keep it.”
- Carolyn See, The Washington Post Book World
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